Saturday, February 25, 2012

I spied the back of this house driving around Bendigo and I'm glad we went around the block for a better look. What a beauty it turned out to be. Perhaps not the best surroundings at the moment with a bit of landscaping work going on in the garden and the footpath along the front but a stunning deco home none the less.

Monday, February 20, 2012

I con't know what is going on with this apartment building on the corner of Franklin Street & Broadway in Pacific Heights. I suspect something has been added to the roof of the original building but perhaps it was designed that way.

One thing for certain though, it has the most amazing decoration around the entrance.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

It is very common to see, around Melbourne, the slot of a letterbox worked into the bricks of the the gatepost or wall of the average suburban house. However I have never seen another one shaped like an arrow as this one on the Golf Links Estate in Camberwell is.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Yenda is a village near Griffith in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) of New South Wales.

When I first heard of it, it was described as a cluster of Art Deco buildings around a village green. While that is not exactly true, there is a village green in Yenda and there several Art Deco buildings facing the green and in the nearby streets and I think it is certainly worth a detour off Burley Griffin Way to have a look.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was the architect of Hill House in Helensburgh which was built in 1902 for the Blackie family.

The dull exterior belies a glorious, mostly white, interior jointly designed by Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald but you'll have to visit to see that for yourself. The National Trust for Scotland website has some interior photos and details of how you can visit the property.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Montevideo was such a great Deco city to explore. This apartment building is just a block or two off the main street Avenida 18 de Julio. It has an interesting asymmetrical façade with squared edges on the corner of the building and curved balconies on the other side of a central projection. The main doors are around the corner and feature metalwork consisting of interlocking circles and and horizontal bars. The really interesting aspect for me however is a series on panels on the projecting section of the façade bearing combinations of circles and other geometric and floral patterns.

Monday, February 6, 2012

It is perhaps fitting that Yenda, a small town in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA), has a concrete water trough just off the central park area. The inscription reads

Donated byAnnis & George BillsAustralia

~~~ UPDATE ~~~

Robin Grow has provided a link explaining who Annis & George Bills were. In part it reads ...

George Bills died 14 Dec 1927 and his wife, Annis died on the 20 Jun 1910. After providing some personal bequests, his will directed the income from the residue of his estate to be used to provide troughs for horses, and for the purpose of preventing cruelty, and alleviating the sufferings of animals in any country.

More then 500 troughs were erected in Australia mostly in New South Wales and Victoria, and some in overseas countries---England, Ireland, Switzerland [for donkeys] and Japan.

...

Later a standard design was adopted, and Rolca concrete products supplied many hundreds of the troughs in Victoria and New South Wales. Troughs were supplied on application to the Bills Trust by Councils, and truckloads of 10 would often leave the Rocla Factory for installation by a team of men in country towns.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Here are some cropped photos of Charles Comfort's frieze on the façade of the old Toronto Stock Exchange building (Samuel Maw, 1937). It is now used as the Design Exchange but whoever decided to put the ornamental lamp posts right in front of the frieze perhaps should go back to design school.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I received a call from the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Monday afternoon saying that they had had a cancellation and could I hang my From New York to Fish Creek exhibition any earlier ... like this week!

'Of course', I said. What an opportunity!

So after two very busy days (and nights) I now have an exhibition. The captions aren't done yet but they'll be up as soon as I can get them done.

I'm pleased with how it looks so far and I had quite a few interested viewers and favourable comments as the frames went up.

MELBOURNE ART DECO
In 2009 Robin Grow published a book on Melbourne Art Deco, with images largely supplied by David Thompson. The book quickly sold out and he is pleased to say that it has now been re-published by Brolga Press, with updates, errors corrected and a new cover.

Best of all, it is selling for about $25 in the shops and on-line. Art Deco & Modernism Society members can purchase a copy from me for $22, (includes postage within Australia). For overseas orders please email for postage rates. Contact me at robingrow@ozemail.com.au if you are interested, and advise if you would like the book to be dedicated and/or signed.